The present disclosure is directed to a die assembly for producing a film.
Stand up pouches (SUPS) formed from film have been gaining market acceptance over rigid packaging in many applications, including food, home and personal care applications. Stand up pouches offer the advantage of lower weight, better use of materials, good visual appeal (direct printing instead of using labels), and better overall sustainability. Nevertheless, SUPS' commercial utilization is limited due lack of specific functionalities, including product flow control, such as when the user requires a “spray” or “aspersion” dispensing from the packaging. This is a common feature required in household and automotive cleaners, disinfectants, glass cleaners, liquid waxes; personal care items such as lotions and sun blocks; and food products such as salad dressings and sauces. In most cases, when a fine spray dispensing is required, a rigid packaging with a specialized nozzle, or a complex trigger pump spray system which is very high cost and limits the application of such packaging, is typically required.
Microcapillary films are low cost alternatives to allow the user to obtain the spray or aspersion dispensing with a minimal increment in cost. To integrate a microcapillary film into a SUP, lamination is typically performed, which requires uniform film thickness. However, the conventional die assemblies with which microcapillary films are formed are known to produce microcapillary films with high variation in film thickness (i.e., films with non-uniform thickness).
A need exists for a die assembly capable of forming a microcapillary film with low variation in film thickness.